This module provides an easy interface to retrieve files using the FTP protocol. The location of a file to retrieve is specified using a URL. IPv6 is supported, if the optional module IO::Socket::IP is installed. Only retrieval is supported, not storing or anything more exotic.

URL must be a URL using the ftp scheme. The file that it refers to is retrieved from the FTP server, and its content is returned in the form of a string of octets. If any error occurs then the function dies. Possible errors include the URL being malformed, inability to contact the FTP server, and the FTP server reporting that the file doesn't exist.